Concerns raised about sterilisation of surgical equipment at Fairfield Hospital
A complaint has been lodged against a western Sydney hospital after problems were raised about a machine used to sterilise surgical equipment.
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Sterilisation methods have been called into question at Fairfield Hospital after the machine responsible for cleaning surgical equipment presented problems.
Doctors normally grab pre-sterilised packages of equipment to perform surgeries. But for several weeks recently at Fairfield Hospital, the indicator marking surgical equipment as clean was presenting with a stain, calling its sterilisation into question, a source said.
Major surgeries were cancelled at the last minute in some cases, however the questionable surgical tools were still used to perform emergency and minor surgeries, the source said.
This is because cancelling surgeries would adversely affect a hospital’s performance metrics, the source said.
Operating with tools that are not sterile violates a mandatory Australian standard and can lead to patients contracting an infection, which can be life threatening.
All of the allegations were put forward to the South West Sydney Local Health District, the government body responsible for Fairfield Hospital.
It said the machine had been fixed, but they did not disclose when it was malfunctioning and for how long.
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“No patients have been exposed to any unsterilised equipment at Fairfield Hospital,” a spokeswoman said.
“Some non-urgent surgeries were rescheduled while an issue in the sterilising process was rectified and there are no further interruptions to surgery.
“We apologise unreservedly for any inconvenience to patients and their families.”
The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission confirmed a complaint had been lodged addressing the stained surgical equipment.
“The Commission has received a complaint about this matter,” a spokesman said.
“As the matter is current, the Commission is unable to provide any further comment on the complaint.”
When Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane found comparable stains on the packaging of their surgical tools, the day’s 46 surgeries were immediately cancelled and the problem was investigated.
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